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The Black Keys Go to Mediation Therapy in the Amusing Video for New Song “Go”

“Let’s Rock” Due Out June 28 via Easy Sound/Nonesuch

May 16, 2019By Christopher Roberts

The Black Keys (Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney) are releasing a new album, "Let's Rock", on June 28 via Easy Sound/Nonesuch. Previously they shared two songs from it: "Eagle Birds" and "Lo/Hi." Now they have shared another song from the album, "Go," via an amusing video that finds the duo at odds with each other and being sent to a hippie mediation retreat just to get them to talk to each other. Bryan Schlam directed the video. Watch it below, followed by the band's upcoming tour dates, with support from Modest Mouse.

Carney had this to say about the video in a press release: "It was great making this video with Bryan, partially because it was filmed at the very type of place it is making fun of."

Auerbach adds: "The video was fun, but we still haven't spoken."

Schlam had this to say about directing the video, "For 'Go' I felt like we needed to address the elephant in the room. Where have the guys been for 5 years? I thought: 'Let's send them to the next level of therapy. A retreat. A commune. A place that's supposed to symbolize peace and unity...and they'll hate every second of it.' It was a challenging video, not only in the task of having Dan and Patrick act in almost every shot - but also in keeping a narrative that feels cinematic and funny at the same time. We tried to balance the two, relying on situational humor and the effortlessly cool vibe of the song."

It's been five years since The Black Keys last released an album, 2014's Turn Blue. A previous press release said "Let's Rock" "is a return to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney's early days as a band."

Auerbach added: "When we're together we are The Black Keys, that's where that real magic is, and always has been since we were 16."

Auerbach and Carney have kept busy in the last half a decade. In 2015 Auerbach released Yours, Dreamily, the debut album by side-project The Arcs, and in 2017 he released his second solo album, Waiting on a Song. He also started a record label, Easy Eye Sound, named after his recording studio in Nashville, and recorded other artists at the studio. Carney also produced and collaborated with other artists, including Tennis and Tobias Jesso Jr., and recently released a debut album from his side band Sad Planets (which is a collaboration with John Petkovic).